The Argo II arrived faster than I anticipated.
The morning sun was warm and welcoming in Malta. Leo and I sat at an open-air café, overlooking the sea. He was talking animatedly about his battle with the empousa, heavily embellishing the details, but I decided not to call him out on it. His broad grin as he described "a fight that even Hercules wouldn't have won" was far too cute for me to dampen his mood.
Leo's brown eyes twinkled impishly, and his fingers drummed against the table energetically. It felt like forever since I'd seen him with this much excitement about something that wasn't the Archimedes sphere. My eyes glazed over in thought. Was there anything that I could do to keep him smiling so carefree like this?
"So then I did some epic fire bending moves and burnt her with her own hair," Leo said.
"So how does that work?" I mused. "Like wouldn't she be immune to fire or?"
"Well when you're as hot as me," Leo waggled his eyebrows, "there's no immunity on earth that can help you."
I laughed and took a sip from my hot chocolate. "I see! Well you've definitely got me under your fiery spell."
"That's for sure!" He grinned. "Oh! You've got a little... just hold still."
Leo leaned forward and licked the sweet foam that had settled on my upper lip. I shuddered and instinctively leaned in to capture his lips in a passionate kiss. He returned the kiss eagerly and, as always, things escalated quickly. His hand roamed from my knee up to my thigh and squeezed firmly, making me sigh happily. Leo took that opportunity to dive his tongue into my mouth. My body was alight, reacting to his like I was one of his mechanical creations; he always knew just what buttons to press.
"Ohhh!" exclaimed a familiar masculine voice. "You owe me ten drachma, Frank!"
Leo and I jerked apart as if we'd been shocked with electricity. Standing just a few feet away was the crew of the Argo II, most of them with shit-eating smirks on their faces. Frank scowled and fished some gold coins out of his pocket and placed them in Jason's open palm, the blond grinning smugly. Hazel and Piper gave each other knowing looks while Nico looked like he might barf— or summon an army of skeletons. It was pretty hard to tell with him. Coach Hedge, on the other hand, looked like he was about to blow a gasket.
I spluttered for an excuse. "Um, he was just, we were, I was only—"
"Oh, it's just you guys!" Leo said dismissively before grabbing my chin gently and pulling me into another smooch.
My eyes bugged out of my head. Did he bump his head? What was he thinking?!
Leo released me with a grin and threw his arm around me. "Nice of you guys to finally join us! You've all met my girlfriend, Peri, right?"
My mind rattled like someone had taken a mallet and whacked me upside the head with it. Girlfriend?! Did I hear him correctly? Piper and Hazel squealed girlishly while Nico rolled his eyes.
"Congrats you guys!" Piper beamed.
"About time," nodded Jason approvingly.
"I'm just glad to see you two idiots are okay," said the son of Hades.
I looked into Leo's eyes with a bewildered expression. I was starting to seriously suspect that he was having some sort of quarter life crisis. Was that normal for a demigod?
But then I saw the love in his eyes and the smile on his face, like he'd never been more sure of himself. And after everything... I supposed it made sense. Still, I didn't expect it. A gleeful grin spread across my cheeks. Boyfriend and girlfriend huh? Considering all the nasty monsters I'd faced, I guess dating the son of Hephaestus wasn't the scariest thing after all.
"Yeah, yeah, congratulations," Hedge griped. "But you two know the rules on fraternization! Drop and give me twenty! And I don't wanna see any of those wimpy girl push-ups, Storm!"
Coach Hedge blew his whistle harshly, and Leo and I jumped from our seats and hit the deck. The rest of the crew laughed as we did our push-ups, the wiry satyr counting us off. A bead of sweat rolled down my temple, but I grinned all the same.
Man, my life is weird... But I wouldn't trade it for anything right about now.
When we were finished, I huffed. A small price to pay for earning the title of Leo's girlfriend, I supposed. The others grabbed chairs from nearby tables, and we all settled in together snugly. Jason leaned in and squeezed Leo's shoulder.
"We thought you guys were dead," he said. "What happened?"
Leo and I exchanged a look. So much had happened since we were blasted off of the ship. Where to begin?
"We got marooned," Leo replied simply. "Long story. How about you guys? What happened with Khione?"
Coach Hedge snorted. "What happened? Piper happened! I'm telling you, this girl has skills!"
"Coach…" Piper protested.
Coach began retelling the story, but I had a sneaking suspicion that he was exaggerating more than a little bit. In his version, Piper was a kung fu assassin and there were dozens of Boreads. Coach Hedge was just describing how Piper had defeated Khione with a roundhouse kick when Piper interrupted.
"Coach!" she said. "It didn't happen like that at all. I couldn't have done anything without Festus."
Leo raised his eyebrows. "But Festus was deactivated."
"Um, about that," Piper said. "I sort of woke him up."
Piper explained her version of events— how she'd rebooted the metal dragon with charmspeak.
"Wow, Pipes," I looked at the daughter of Aphrodite with admiration. "Now that's impressive!"
She smiled bashfully. "I wouldn't have lasted a minute without your sword fighting training. I was thinking about you two when I stabbed that ice witch in the chest."
I touched my heart. "You don't know how much of a compliment that is to me."
"Still, that shouldn't be possible," Leo murmured thoughtfully. "Unless the upgrades let Festus respond to voice commands. But if he's permanently activated, that means the navigation system and the crystal…"
"Crystal?" Jason asked.
Leo flinched. "Um, nothing. Anyway, what happened after the wind bomb went off?"
Hazel took up the story. A waitress came over and offered menus. In no time we were chowing down on sandwiches and sodas, enjoying the sunny day almost like a group of regular teenagers.
Frank grabbed a tourist brochure stuck under the napkin dispenser. He began to read it. Piper patted Leo's arm, like she couldn't believe he was really here. Nico stood at the edge of the group, eyeing the passing pedestrians as if they might be enemies. Coach Hedge munched on the salt and pepper shakers.
"So then Jason harnessed the venti," Hazel finished. "And here we are."
Leo whistled. "Hot-air horses? Dang, Jason. So basically, you held a bunch of gas together all the way to Malta, and then you let it loose."
Jason frowned. "You know, it doesn't sound so heroic when you put it that way."
"Yeah, well," I chuckled to myself. "Leo's an expert on hot air."
"Ha, ha," Leo said. "I'm still wondering, why Malta? We just kind of ended up here on the raft, but was that a random thing, or—"
"Maybe because of this." Frank tapped his brochure. "Says here Malta was where Calypso lived."
A pint of blood drained from Leo's face. "W-what now?"
At the mention of Calypso, I swallowed thickly, suddenly very interested in the puffs of steam that curled up from my hot cocoa. Leo's hand found mine underneath the table, but I'm not sure which one of us needed more comfort. Probably both of us. Ogygia had been almost like a fever dream, and the two of us hadn't spoke of it since arriving in Malta. But now the memories came crashing back to me, and there was a heavy lump in my chest. The image of the Titan's daughter was forever embedded into my mind, but I wasn't ready to talk about it with the others. Not here, not now.
Frank shrugged. "According to this, her original home was an island called Gozo just north of here. Calypso's a Greek myth thingie, right?"
"Ah, a Greek myth thingie!" Coach Hedge rubbed his hands together. "Maybe we get to fight her! Do we get to fight her? 'Cause I'm ready."
"No," Leo murmured. "No, we don't have to fight her, Coach."
Piper frowned. "Leo, what's wrong? You look—"
"Nothing's wrong!" Leo shot to his feet, our conjoined hands pulling me up along with him. "Hey, we should get going. We've got work to do!"
"But… where did you guys go?" Hazel asked. "Where did you two get those clothes? How—"
"Jeez, ladies!" I said. "I appreciate the concern, but we're fine! Honest."
Piper smiled uncertainly. "Okay, but—"
"Ships to fix!" Leo said. "Festus to check! Earth goddesses to punch in the face! What are we waiting for? The gang's back together!"
Jason got up and clapped his hands together. "Leo's right. We should get going."
Everybody took the cue. They started wrapping up their food and finishing their drinks. I gave Jason a grateful look. Reasons like this were why he was such a great leader.
Suddenly, Hazel gasped. "Guys…"
She pointed to the northeast horizon. At first, I saw nothing but the sea. Then a streak of darkness shot into the air like black lightning—as if pure night had torn through the daytime.
"I don't see anything," Coach Hedge grumbled.
"Me neither," Piper said.
I scanned my friends' faces. Most of them just looked confused. Nico and Jason were the only ones who seemed to have noticed the black lightning.
"That can't be…" Nico muttered. "Greece is still hundreds of miles away."
The darkness flashed again, momentarily leaching the color from the horizon.
"You think it's Epirus?" My whole skeleton tingled, the way I felt when I got hit by a thousand volts. I didn't know why I could see the dark flashes. I wasn't a child of the Underworld. But it gave me a very bad feeling.
Nico nodded. "The House of Hades is open for business."
A few seconds later, a rumbling sound washed over us like distant artillery.
"It's begun," Hazel said.
"What has?" Leo asked.
When the next flash happened, Hazel's gold eyes darkened like foil in fire. "Gaea's final push," she said. "The Doors of Death are working overtime. Her forces are entering the mortal world en masse."
"We'll never make it," Nico said. "By the time we arrive, there'll be too many monsters to fight."
Jason set his jaw. "We'll defeat them. And we'll make it there fast. We've got Leo and Peri back. The two of them can give us the speed we need."
He turned to his friend. "Or is that just hot air?"
Leo managed a crooked grin. His eyes seemed to say: Thanks.
"Time to fly, boys and girls," he said. "Captain Leo's still got a few tricks up his sleeves!"